TRAVELMAN NEPAL: The Start of My Four Day Poon Hill Trek in the Annapurna Conservation Area.

Finally, after days of blowing my nose every five minutes, drinking hot tea, and buying trekking shoes twice, I was ready for my five day Poon Hill Trek. It took only four days. It was tough, but in relative terms, not so tough.

I’m an abscent minded person. I am seriously lucky that our heads do not detach from our bodies because mine would have been lost years ago. Within five minutes of leaving the permit office, I’d lost the permit to the park. I remember checking my coat pocket and only finding one permit. I’d just left the office so my brain told me that maybe I was only given the TIMS (the trekking permit) to carry and they kept the other one. When I returned to my hotel and asked the hotel owner, he gave me the bad news that I get both and I must have lost the park permit. Stupid brain, that’s the last time I listen to you.

This meant that I had to go to the permit office as soon as they opened at 9:00 A.M. the next morning to ask for a replacement. Going to the permit office at that time meant that I’d be getting a late start on my first day of trekking. The hotel owner assured me that I could at least make it to the first village, and maybe even the next one before sunset. Even with this assurance from a local, I was worried.

I got to the permit office shortly before it opened. I sat and waited, blowing my nose every three minutes. I still had a bit of a cold. The office opened, they gave me a note to give to the checkpoint at the start of the trek. If the checkpoint had questions they could call the Pokhara office. Cool, I was set to go.

I walked down the street and talked to a cabbie about a ride to the bus station to catch a bus to the starting point in Nayapul. The cabbie asked for 300 rupees. The hotel owner had told me it was a 200 rupee ride. I told this to the cabbie. He said, no dice and that three hundred was the going rate. I walked for about ten minutes in the direction of the station.

I hailed another cab. He asked for 450 rupees and told me the bus station was very far. I almost laughed in his face. I knew how far it was. I got him to take the 300 rupees which I realized was, indeed, the going rate.

On the way he tried to sell me a cab ride all the way to Nayapul, “Oh, the bus, it stops many times, takes many hours.” I declined his offer. By the time we arrived at the bus stop, he realized I wasn’t an easy mark so he kindly told me about the Jeeps to Nayapul. He told me not to pay more than 300, but I may have to wait for enough passengers before they leave. I thanked him.

****middle of nowhere snack shop****

I found a Jeep. Lucky for me it was ready to go. I found it funny that the two hour ride to Nayapul was as much as the less than ten minute cab ride (Granted, the Jeep had nine other passengers, but still.)

****View from back of snack shop in middle of nowhere****

The Jeep drove to the top of the hill from which the paragliders launch. I have some video I took from the Jeep that I will post when I’m around hi-speed internet. It was a beautiful ride as the Jeep climbed up the foothill mountain range.

We stopped at a snack shop/restaurant about two-thirds of the way there. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I wondered what it was like to live there.

We stopped a couple times along the way. At these stops, the driver let a passenger or two off on the side of the rode in an even more desolate looking area. After two hours we stopped and the driver’s co-pilot told me this was my stop. It looked like the middle of nowhere as well. I expected a town.

He handed me my bags, the jeep drove off, I walked across the steet and asked which way to the trail. Someone pointed for me to go down the road. I walked and I smiled. It was incredible. I felt like I’d gone to another planet. I walked through a town which I now realize was Nayapul. I talked to a worker carrying a hand sickle that cuts long reeds of grass. It was small talk, he wished me well and I continued on my way. I walked alongside a river that ran a creamy blue color. It seemed there was a quarry of sorts in the area for gravel and stone. I saw men chopping rocks with sledge hammers.

I crossed a bridge over the river and found the permit checkpoint. The attendant said I would have to wait fifteen minutes while he called the other office and prepared another permit for me. It only took ten. The gentlemen was apologetic and helpful. He pointed me in the right direction. It was four minutes after one o’clock. I had four and half hours of sunlight left in the day. I headed out and up the dusty trail.

Nepal can’t have good internet because then it would be heaven.

Travelman log, day 200. This post took me an eternity to load pics so I had to skip some good ones. !steemitworldmap 28.2097 lat 83.9568 long Start to my poonhill trek,Nepal, d3scr 342 Followers and counting, 985 steem earned. Rep 59.1 Travelman out.